


Believing the Best and Worst

by nottinghamroad



Category: X-Men (Movies), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Charles is a sweetheart, Erik is insecure, Fluff and Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-15
Updated: 2014-08-15
Packaged: 2018-02-13 06:44:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2141037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nottinghamroad/pseuds/nottinghamroad
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charles wants to get Erik used to small public displays of affection now that their relationship is formalized. Erik is uncomfortable but goes along with small instances of hand holding. Fluff and minor angst ensues.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Believing the Best and Worst

Charles lifted Erik’s hand gently from its limp position on the couch. He traced the lines on Erik’s palm with his thumb, and felt Erik relax somewhat in response. Gently, as if he were going to spook Erik with too much speed, he matched their hands together and intertwined their fingers. The muscles in Erik’s forearm tensed. Charles looked up at him, his eyes tender. 

“Now, is that really so bad?” he asked softly. Erik met his gaze, his big grey eyes heavy with a vulnerability Charles had become very familiar with in the past several months. Erik’s memories of Auschwitz were still razor sharp. His suffering as a Jew had been immense, but it had seemed even worse for the inmates marched by him on a daily basis with pink triangles affixed to the front of their uniforms. To become two of the things that were hated most in his nightmare scape-that was quite a lot for Erik to handle. 

Charles knew this, of course. Not just because he could read Erik’s mind, but because Erik had slowly opened up to him once they had formalized their relationship. Charles was starting to realize the flaw in his mutant power-there was the lack of a personal touch. He could reach into another person’s mind and grab ahold of their memories, thoughts, and emotions, but there was a profound difference in an emotion plucked from another person’s brain and an emotion expressed to another human being. There was a complexity in the way Erik described his childhood and his maturation into the person he was now. A complexity that Charles really couldn’t divine himself, even with his telepathy. He was able to sense the dominant emotion in a person’s brain, but the nesting of multiple (often conflicting) emotions that was so common and so very human was something that never ceased to amaze him. And it was also something he was only able to access through the formation of close relationships, like with Erik now. 

“Charles, I,” Erik began, and then bit his lip. There was quite a lot he wanted to say regarding taking their relationship public, but the words all swirled around in his head and congealed into a mush so that he was unable to verbalize his feelings. Erik clenched and unclenched the hand that Charles was not holding several times. His brain, normally so clear and single-minded in its purpose was tangled and useless where Charles was concerned. The coppery taste of blood was soon on his tongue; he must have not noticed how hard he was biting his lip. He could feel Charles’ concerned gaze burning into him, but he wouldn’t make eye contact. There had to be some way to properly express to this man who meant so much to him the tangle of emotion and thought fighting for attention in his brain. 

The roaring confusion in his head was silenced briefly by Charles pressing a kiss to his mouth. He had clearly been attempting to sort through some of what was going through Erik’s head. Erik sighed into the kiss and deepened it slightly, his mood lifted. They parted after a few moments. Charles stared into Erik’s eyes, trying to memorize the location of each of the green flecks that sparkled in his otherwise grey eyes. 

“We’ll take it slow, Erik. No need to come sailing out of our flat with rainbow flags attached to our backs just yet.” Charles ran his thumb over the top of Erik’s knuckles. “What do you say to walking to the coffee shop on the corner together?” Erik bit the inside of his cheeks and nodded hesitantly. 

The two-block stroll to the coffee shop, hand-in-hand, was significantly less eventful than Erik had imagined. Although, he supposed his visions of persecution by mud-slinging in the streets were probably unrealistic in the current age. Charles prattled merrily to him as they walked, pointing out random people on the street and amusing Erik with the most absurd thoughts each of them were harboring at the moment. A telepathic partner certainly had its benefits. 

They arrived at the door of the coffee shop. Charles broke his grip in order to put his hand on the small of Erik’s back and push him gently through the door first. Erik surveyed the menu and strode forward to order for the two of them while Charles found a table. Several minutes later, Erik found himself with a steaming drink in hand laughing at Charles’ running commentary on the barista’s woeful love life. 

“I mean clearly she wasn’t interested in a second date, or she would have bothered to shower this morning!” Charles drew breath and the corners of his mouth twitched at Erik’s chuckles. He continued. “The smell is not only offensive, it’s positively rebellious! She knows precisely what air she’s giving off and the poor chap has no idea! Still so desperate for a go.”  
Charles paused and placed his hand over Erik’s across the table. 

“I think we’re on a date,” Charles remarked lightly. Erik smiled, somewhat to himself. But Charles caught it. 

“I think we are,” Erik agreed. 

They held hands across the table for several moments and just enjoyed one another’s company. 

The shop bell jingled after a few moments and a disgruntled looking man with dark red sunglasses came striding through the door. The man’s gaze, though shielded by the sunglasses, seemed to cut right through Erik in a vicious glare. He let out a derisive “Hmph” in the pair’s direction and strode forward to order his coffee. Shame flooded Erik’s being and he stood up suddenly from the table and walked as fast as he could out the door without breaking into a run. Charles hastily threw away his coffee cup and followed after Erik, struggling to keep up as the taller man’s stride was so much longer. 

Charles tailed Erik all the way back to their flat and finally caught him at the door. He took Erik firmly by the shoulder and pulled him into a hug. Erik’s whole body was tense, and he refused to return the embrace for the first few moments. Charles was content to just hold his Erik, tracing circles on his shoulder blades with his thumb and occasionally running a hand through the hair at the nape of Erik’s neck. What felt like several minutes passed, and Erik slowly brought his arms up around Charles’ back and returned the embrace. Charles continued his gentle massage of Erik’s shoulders until he felt his partner relax the tension there. Erik buried his face in Charles’ shoulder, wanting to stay like this forever. Charles ran a hand through Erik’s golden hair and took his face in his hands. A stray tear was stubbornly making its way down Erik’s cheek. Charles brushed it away gently and met Erik’s eyes once again. 

“You don’t expect the whole world to approve of you when it comes to mutation and the place of mutants in society.” Charles ran his thumbs across Erik’s temples. “Why do you expect the whole world to approve of you when it comes to us?” Erik wished he had a good answer. 

“I just knew that man was thinking absolutely foul things about us and I can’t stand to be dehumanized like that, not when I am more powerful than he could ever dream.” Erik knew the words were vitriolic, but anger was preferable to vulnerability and weeping. The corners of Charles’ mouth twitched and he let his hands slide down to Erik’s arms. 

“Even if he was thinking terrible things about us, what does the opinion of a stranger matter? I think the world of you, and so do Raven, Hank, Logan, and the others.” Erik scoffed as Charles mentioned Logan’s name. 

“And what do you mean if he was thinking about us?” asked Erik, just now realizing the caveat in Charles’ words before. Charles tapped his right temple. 

“I’m the telepath, remember? You reminded him of an item he forgot on his grocery list, and so he grunted at you in frustration.” Charles could feel Erik’s heavy embarrassment and rubbed Erik’s arms bracingly. He slid his hands down the length of Erik’s arms and put his hands in his pockets.

“You always believe the worst in people, love. It’s really so much easier to believe the best.” There was no judgement in Charles’ expression as he spoke those words. Only an abiding love that Erik could feel reverberating through his chest. He took one of Charles’ hands from his pocket and kissed it. Then, intertwining their fingers, Erik opened the door and led the man who truly reflected the best of him back into their home.


End file.
